Picture Valanciunas turning out to be Hoffa how many years this would set this franchise back right now. When you're a lottery team and you're as bad as we were, and there were rumblings then that VC wanted out if i recall it was a stupid pick by a horrid GM.

Rumours at the time were that Jack McCloskey, the interm GM before Babcock was hired in June 04, was the one who really pushed hard for drafting Araujo. The ultimate decsion was Babcock's to make though.

Picture Valanciunas turning out to be Hoffa how many years this would set this franchise back right now. When you're a lottery team and you're as bad as we were, and there were rumblings then that VC wanted out if i recall it was a stupid pick by a horrid GM.

LOL... Babcock was hired 2 weeks before the draft. He went with the pick that the scouts suggested since they had done all the legwork.

Horrid GM? Based on a single year at the helm when he walked into a capped out team with a star who wanted out? What do you think BC would have done in THAT situation? hahahahahhaahahahahahaa....

Our management flat-out gave up on him before the season was even over... and it's a shame TBH.

Hoffa was given a shot. I watched basically every game that season, and the one that followed. He was not the better option at any point, so they played other players.

He couldn't make it in Russia, or on the Jazz for NBA reference. Guys like Mehmet Ocur shined there, and he was awful.

This guy is our worst pick, based on where he was selected, the players still available on the board. As the rumour goes, Babcock wanted to hijack Utah's 12 and 14 picks by picking their local boy. Clearly, it didn't work out. Those guys that have been mentioned were quite bad, but not on Hoffa's level.

That being said, that dunk that crushed the backboard in Brazil almost redeemed it for me, as I still haven't laughed that hard, and I saw it back in June.

The Vince Carter trade was inexusable. I recall guys like Jalen Rose who was a player for us at the time, laughing. He said something to the effect of "I could probably make a better trade on my X-box" with a smirk.

Yep. Because it was absolutely ridiculous to expect ANY GM to turn that team around in 1 year. Just pure stupidity. And Peddie and the board made him the scapegoat AFTER pushing through the Vince trade so that they could save some money lol. No-win scenario for Babs.

What Isiah did in NYK? Now THAT was horrible GM'ing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rene_13

Hoffa was given a shot. I watched basically every game that season, and the one that followed. He was not the better option at any point, so they played other players.

So did I. And I remember those games against the Kings, Warriors and Lakers when Haffa was actually pretty solid (did you look at the game logs?).

Haffa wasn't supposed to be Tim Duncan coming into the league. He was more a Zaza P. type. If anyone thought differently then that was their mistake.

McCloskey reportedly pressured Babcock into drafting Hoffa, but at the end of the day the final decision rested with rob Babcock who was the general manager at the time. Just because he wasn't hired by toronto until June, doesn't mean he was entirely removed from evaluating draft prospects/players. He was working with the Twolves for 12 years before that. He was vp of player personnel for them before being hired and spent time as a scout in the past as well. There possibly were other scouts telling him differing views than mccloskey's. He later admitted he would be picking the best player available in the future rather than draft for position.